“If Europe today accounts for just over 7 per cent of the world’s population, produces around 25 per cent of global GDP and has to finance 50 per cent of global social spending, then it’s obvious that it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life,” Ms Merkel said in the interview.

“All of us have to stop spending more than we earn every year.”

The US is the biggest debtor nation. We flat broke. Busted. They keep spending.

Quote

“We witnessed in the GDR and in the entire socialist system that an economy which was no longer competitive was denying people prosperity and ultimately leading to great instability,” she said.

::snipping2::

“Other models have long since emerged: China, India, Japan, Brazil, and they will be joined by other countries that are working hard and proving to be innovative.”

For some reason, despite slave like debt, Obama's team (and Bush too) finds it necessary to advertise American welfare programs to foreigners. Finds it necessary to allow an ever increasing burden due to illegal immigration.

Where are the politicians that work for Americans?

Logged

All my posts are just my humble opinions. Please take with a grain of salt.

It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,they'll end up in your family anyway...

I’d like to suggest a counter-headline for the Post editorial "Want jobs? Expand Medicaid" (Nov. 29). It is: “Want the USA to remain man’s best hope for freedom and prosperity? Stop spending.”

The Post will never understand one basic tenet of economics: A country cannot continually increase deficit spending without falling into the trash heap. I’m sure the person who wrote this identifies himself as an American. I would label the person as either incredibly naïve, or a Marxist. Never mind, they are the same thing.

"Obama Addresses Nation On Fiscal Cliff: Kicks The Can Down The Road "

Quote

::snipping2:: Mr. President, if you truly want to earn your place in history, do it by being the first President in generations to put aside politics as usual and get this country back on track. Stop spending more than you take in and make the painful budget cuts.

::snipping2::Americans are being bled to death by taxes, price increases and the decline in the value of the dollar. Just like each and every one of us, it is time for the Federal Government to learn to live within its means. Raising taxes is not the answer. What will the government do when we have nothing left to give? America can no longer sustain a growing 16 trillion dollar Federal deficit and unrestrained spending. It is simply madness.

The federal government is operating like someone who spends $78,000 a year on a $50,000 salary. And we’re already over 16 Trillion dollars in debt. That debt affects our entire economy — interest rates, commerce, inflation, and our ability to move forward as a country. If we don’t address our national debt soon, the fiscal cliff will only be the beginning of the crisis.

Still, I’m disappointed to find that the rhetoric in Washington misses the point. Bureaucrats talk as if the problem can be fixed by raising taxes, or making a few spending adjustments. But you can never tax enough, or cut enough, to close a gap bigger than our entire national economy. The key to getting out of debt is the same thing that will get our economy back on track, and is what Americans need most:

Jobs. ::snipping2::

But somehow, jobs are being ignored. The middle-class small businesses owners who create jobs are already out of cash and out of time. ObamaCare creates a trillion dollars in new taxes that business owners have to pay out of their own pockets before they can even think about hiring more employees. And the White House has now proposed another $1.6 trillion in new taxes that will affect those same business owners. But if you’re spending $78,000 and making $50,000, the problem isn’t that your boss isn’t paying you enough. The problem is that you need to stop spending money you don’t have...

Reckless regulations, too, are killing jobs. New regulations are coming from the White House faster than business owners can keep up with them — the website regulations.gov shows nearly 6,000 new regulations posted in just the last three months!...the unemployed remain without jobs. Even those with jobs are afraid of becoming unemployed, or of facing higher taxes. So the economy remains stagnant. And our country slips deeper into debt.

I wonder how long before politicians call the Treasury hourly to find out how much $$$ has rolled in since the last call? Last 30 minutes?

When we as families have to balance our budgets and cut back we do it. No one is going to keep giving us money to live beyond our means. It's called Common Sense. Our government from the top person to the very lowest person doesn't have one ounce of common sense. If they had a national debit card they would just put over draft on it and keep spending. They are so free with our money. But if they had to take cuts in their paychecks and money deals to pay for all their spending they might think twice about all their spending.

I couldn't agree with you more, GE! Did you know that the fiscal cliff deal includes:

$430 million for Hollywood through “special expensing rules” to encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.

$331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.

$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.

$70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities.”

$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon.

$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes.

That deal INCREASED spending!

I think we need to look at each of the items on this list and see who authored them and supported them. Which politician? Which state? Lobbyists? What organizations? I'm really interested in the 70 million to NASCAR. Just wondering.

Logged

" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

Owners of motor sports tracks, thanks to heavy lobbying from NASCAR, caught an estimated $46 million tax break in 2013 by being able to write off the cost of their facilities over seven years instead of several times that long. Supporters of the break included Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.

Owners of motor sports tracks, thanks to heavy lobbying from NASCAR, caught an estimated $46 million tax break in 2013 by being able to write off the cost of their facilities over seven years instead of several times that long. Supporters of the break included Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.

Thanks CBB. That was quick work. It seems to me this isn't a problem that is one party or the other. It's both! The Dems and Reps have both been porking And we've elected these people!! Look at some of the examples in the article how some have benefited financially. And we are all paying. I'm wondering if we need to find another way to do things.

I found this. It's a long but interesting read, imo. http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2013/fiscal-cliff-lobbying/Lobbyists save big businesses from fiscal cliff tax hikesBy Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group Jan 02 2013 3:57 p.m. , ::snipping2::Most of the goodies sprinkled through the American Taxpayer Relief Act have been on the wish lists of big business interests for the last year or longer. All of them can be found in a bill, the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act, introduced by Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., last August. There's tax breaks for NASCAR, Hollywood production studios, U.S. multinationals with overseas subsidiaries, mining companies, railroads and renewable energy firms -- the sort of taxpayers who can spend millions on lobbyists and whose PACs and employees can give millions more to the campaigns of lawmakers.

Consider one provision in the bill: the extension of tax exempt bonds for another two years to help New York City recover from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bloomberg News reported that Goldman Sachs benefited from the program, using $1.5 billion of the low cost funding to build a new Manhattan office tower. Goldman Sachs is the top career contributor to Baucus; the financial firm also disclosed lobbying on Baucus' bill, which included a host of other provisions of interest to the firm.

Many of the tax breaks in Baucus' bill originated with other members of Congress, in both the House and Senate, and have been kicking around Congress over the last year or longer.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., both sponsored versions of the Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act in 2011. The bills give favorable tax treatment to racetrack owners, and were the subject of lobbying from organizations such as NASCAR, the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, and International Speedway. The tax breaks -- estimated at $43 million for 2011 and 2012 -- had little chance of passing as independent legislation after being referred to committee more than a year ago, but were revived with both Baucus' Senate bill and included in the fiscal cliff legislation.

Buchanan, who voted for the measure late Tuesday, has received more than $530,000 over his career from the automotive industry, some of which promote their brands through NASCAR events. He also owns a car dealership in Sarasota worth between $6 million and $30 million. The automotive industry has contributed $430,000 to Stabenow, who also voted 'yea.'

Hollywood is given a break in the new 'fiscal cliff' bill with the extension of a tax subsidy for film and television production companies. As long as 75 percent of production occurs in the U.S., the companies can deduct millions in production property costs. According to a 2010 report by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the provision was estimated to cost $320 million between 2011 and 2012.

The extension of this tax subsidy was initially proposed by Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., who since 1998 has received more than $300,000 from individuals and PACs from television, movie and music firms. The bill was lobbied on by entertainment giants such as National Amusements, Inc., Time Warner, Discovery Communications, Disney and the Motion Picture Association of America, but after being referred to committee in May 2012, the legislation stalled.

It passed easily when attached to the American Taxpayer Relief Act. Dreier's affirmative vote for the bill is one of his last acts as a member of the House -- after redistricting changed the make-up of his district, he decided not to run in 2012. The bill also extends tax breaks for the coal industry. Back in 2006, then-Rep. Phil English, R-Pa., made sure they were included in a bill called the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, according to a press release at the time. English, who was on the Ways and Means Committee, had introduced the mine safety tax benefits in separate legislation earlier that year.

Specifically, the bill would extend the mining industry tax benefits that expired at the end of 2011 through 2013. One is a tax credit for each employee trained in rescue and emergency procedures in mines. The other allows companies to deduct half the cost of advanced mine safety equipment from its tax bill. The last time Congress passed these coal industry benefits was the extension of the Bush tax cuts signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. They were also tucked into a failed bill to end oil subsidies sponsored by Sen. Bob Mendendez, D-N.J., in March 2012, and lived on in the Baucus bill as well.

The coal mining industry has increased its campaign contributions to federal candidates in recent years, more than tripling its giving in the past four years to more than $12 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

English was among the two dozen House members who benefited the most from coal mining industry contributions in his final congressional term, receiving nearly $12,000, according to CRP. English lost his seat in 2009 but is now a lobbyist for Arent Fox, a firm that lobbies Congress on, among other things, corporate tax issues for the chemical and construction industries. He moderated a panel discussion at George Washington University earlier this year entitled, "Energy tax incentives: What does the future hold?"

In addition to an extension of the coal industry's breaks, the future also includes tax benefits for the renewable energy industry, including wind turbine builders. The American Wind Energy Association trumpeted the extension of the credits for renewable energy in a press release; among the company that lobbied for it was petroleum giant BP, which has investments in more than a dozen wind farms in the United States.

Interests behind every provision

Among the companies that lobbied on research and development tax credits were some of the leading computer manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. Microsoft led the list with taxes being one of the top lobbied on issues for the computer and software manufacturers, and employees of the company and the political action committee gave more than $4.2 million to various candidates, including $764,000 to Obama, $189,400 to his Republican opponent Mitt Romney and several congressional campaigns of Washington state candidates, where Microsoft is headquartered.

Other major lobbying entities include Hewlett Packard and Texas Instruments. In 2012, Hewlett has disclosed spending a little less than $5.4 million through the third quarter of 2012 on a host of issues. Its PAC contributed more than $1 million to federal candidates in the 2012 election cycle, while company employees and their family members chipped in more, favoring Obama more than any other candidate. House Speaker John Boehner came in third. Pharmaceutical firms Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer also listed extended R&D credits as a lobbying concern. Sanofi-Aventis spread out their cash among several lawmakers, Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., received the most among lawmakers from Pfizer.

The research and development tax break has appeared in other bills. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., offered similar legislation in the House in March 2010 and January 2011. Over his career, pharmaceutical and health products manufacturers have contributed more than $426,000 to his campaign.

Much more...

Logged

" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

Apparently, we're off and running again with the Sandy relief bill, too:

::snipping2:: ::snipping2::

The Bennington Banner notes multiple “pet projects” which have caused angst among Republican lawmakers who likely want to help Hurricane Sandy victims. Some of the disputed hurricane relief bill pork measures in $336 million in Amtrak expenses and $2 million in taxpayer funds to repair a room on one of the Smithsonian buildings in Washington D.C.

The publication also reports that the Super Storm Sandy relief legislation also includes $8 million to purchase new vehicles for federal agencies. A total of $4 million for repairs to the Kennedy Space Center were also added to the disaster relief bill.